Symmetric polynomials in the symplectic alphabet and the change of variables \(z_j = x_j + x_j^{-1}\) (Q2662337)

Summary: Given a symmetric polynomial \(P\) in \(2n\) variables, there exists a unique symmetric polynomial \(Q\) in \(n\) variables such that \[P(x_1,\ldots,x_n,x_1^{-1},\ldots,x_n^{-1})=Q(x_1+x_1^{-1},\ldots,x_n+x_n^{-1}).\] We denote this polynomial \(Q\) by \(\Phi_n(P)\) and show that \(\Phi_n\) is an epimorphism of algebras. We compute \(\Phi_n(P)\) for several families of symmetric polynomials \(P\): symplectic and orthogonal Schur polynomials, elementary symmetric polynomials, complete homogeneous polynomials, and power sums. Some of these formulas were already found by \textit{M. Elouafi} [Appl. Math. Comput. 229, 27--33 (2014; Zbl 1364.15022)] and \textit{G. Lachaud} [Contemp. Math. 663, 185--221 (2016; Zbl 1417.11123)]. The polynomials of the form \(\Phi_n(\operatorname{s}_{\lambda/\mu}^{(2n)})\), where \(\operatorname{s}_{\lambda/\mu}^{(2n)}\) is a skew Schur polynomial in \(2n\) variables, arise naturally in the study of the minors of symmetric banded Toeplitz matrices, when the generating symbol is a palindromic Laurent polynomial, and its roots can be written as \(x_1,\ldots,x_n,x^{-1}_1,\ldots,x^{-1}_n\). \textit{W. F. Trench} [Linear Multilinear Algebra 21, 289--296 (1987; Zbl 0651.15009)] and Elouafi [loc. cit.] found efficient formulas for the determinants of symmetric banded Toeplitz matrices. We show that these formulas are equivalent to the result of \textit{M. Ciucu} and \textit{C. Krattenthaler} [in: Advances in combinatorial mathematics. Proceedings of the 2nd Waterloo workshop on computer algebra (WWCA 2008), Waterloo, Canada, May 5--7, 2008. Dedicated to the 70th birthday of G. Egorychev. Berlin: Springer. 39--59 (2009; Zbl 1182.05126)] about the factorization of the characters of classical groups.